[The proposed research described here is not the dissertation work itself, but is a study to be conducted that can lead to the dissertation.] There is a need for accurate identification of language impairments in African American English- (AAE-) speaking children. Given that measures of tense/agreement morphology (e.g., auxiliary forms of be) show good sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing mainstream American English- (MAE) speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) from their typically developing (TD) peers, it is important to determine whether some of these measures might also be used for the identification of SLI in AAE. Inspection of the AAE literature and analysis of pilot data indicate that certain tense/agreement morphemes are in fact obligatory in AAE and might therefore be examined in the speech of AAE-speaking children with suspected language problems. Forty-five AAE-speakers, 15 preschoolers with SLI, 15 same-age peers, and 15 younger MLU-matched peers will participate in tasks that promote the use of the presumed obligatory auxiliary forms "am" and "was", as well as the variable forms "is" and "are". The findings will advance our understanding of SLI in AAE and may lead to new assessment procedures with this population. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]